Wow Josh. Who’s jumping the gun with a small sample? One guy says he likes the cgi. So what? It looked the same to me: baaaaad. Frankly I’m looking forward to my HD DVDs of the non CGI versions mentioned in the previous post.

Something I don’t get… It wasn’t ever the model that was the problem really, just the way it was lit (well except maybe the nacelle caps :) ). So now to make it easier to light it better they are getting a new model which is less detailed even though it probably won’t be noticible on the model itself. Why not just set up the lighting and scene with a simple model, I mean you could even get one off the internet. Then when the lighting is set up just import the detail model in its place, I know you can “replace object with” in Lightwave I assume something similar could be done?

After all the previous promos clearly featured FX elements NOT in the actual episode, why anyone would expect anyt FX from this promo to be in the episode is beyond me. You’re not really going to know what they changed and how they changed it until this weekend. I bet this promo was created and in the can weeks before the actual episode was even finished.

Josh,
I think you’ll find it better for your blood pressure if you gracefully concede defeat and move on with your life.

Being a good loser is also part of the “lessons” of Star Trek. I think those who appreciate and welcome the new lighting (yes, of the old model for whatever that is worth…) have been quite gracious winners. So to speak.

Now, please, let’s hear some of your thinking on other topics. I am sure it will be considered valuable and contributory!

Wow, I’ve seen that episode maybe a dozen times, easily, and never noticed the “medical school” style skull on that skeleton! That’s a riot! Thanks for pointing that out acb and MagicAl — now I’ll never be able to enjoy this episode again LOL!!

Maybe they performed medical experiments on the prisoner before he died — yeah that’s the ticket…

If you go on, Josh, about how bad the as-yet-unseen CG Ent. “sucks,” you’re going to make a bigger fool out of your self than you already have.
The human mind can be lead, but humans have eyes that don’t lie.
CBS wouldn’t be spending time and money changing it if they thought it looked fine and figured no one would notice and blindly shell out big bucks for the future DVD release.
Get your head out of….. the sand.
There. That’s my human behavioral response.

The medical school skeleton…shouldn’t they go back and CG-fix every visible zipper and seam in the show?

I say Sylvia and Korob just scanned Kirk and McCoy’s minds for some cheesy childhood Halloween memories and put them in the castle. McCoy’s crazy, Halloween-loving uncle could have owned that fake skeleton…

BTW, thanks for the feedback Roger. I think that if done by a talented group, it could be very interesting. The original show reused a lot of stock footage, and simplified set design. I think that 3D animation could really open up some possibilities.

Having said that, I haven’t seen these shows in ages… I recall the voice work being a little wooden…

Regarding the animated series (TAS), the voice work suffers greatly since many of the main actors simply recorded lines into a tape recorder at their leisure – they did not record lines interactively. I do, however, like a number of the innovations of TAS, such as the force field belts and the inclusion of alien species that only recently could be achieved in live action through the use of CGI. And it did have the first appearance of a holodeck. Roddenberry later disclaimed that series as non-canon, but I feel that was a disservice to the loyal fans who watched it and also belittled the effort of some very fine contributors to TAS such as D.C. Fontana, Larry Niven, etc.

Regarding Catspaw, I would be interested in an exterior ship insert displaying what afflicts the Enterprise when the model ship is put into the flame and later encased in Lucite. But that might be detrimental to the plot device of unexplained phenomena. This episode is interesting in that Kirk and company immediate dismiss any supernatural causes to what they observe – they are instead constantly looking for a scientific explanation, which is a nice modeling of rational thinking. Sometimes I think it is a shame the series wasn’t more rational in its take on ESP, mind-reading, etc. But several episodes utilizing such scientifically implausible ideas were quite entertaining.

This has always been one of the all time favorite episodes. I doubt they will have made many changes to it. There are few effects. Perhaps showing a forcefield enveloping the Enterprise would be nice if done properly, but that is probably too much to hope.

I really never mined the alien pupputs used at the the end. They just need to get rid of the strings that can be seen clearly on the DVD version. I loved this idea of completely non-human aliens. sort of tiny, plant-like, and fragile. It is wicked cool.

A lot of people said CGI enhanced Trek would never happen and lo and behold…

Its a great idea, but as stated, the voice work is a little flat. Plus I don’t think they’re quite at the point of being able to do convincing humans in CGI. And I don’t think I could sit still for “performances” from rubbery Kirk, Spock and McCoys. Give it two or three years and they’ll probably have it nailed tho.

Probably a pretty small market for it at this point, but if ST:R does well and the new box sets of the animated series sells, they just might consider it.

Hey John N, over on the trekbbs there actually is someone working on this very idea. Re-animating TAS using the audio from the episodes themeselves. While its not actually the studio I have been watching it, looking forward to how it turns out. Allways thought it would be a neat idea, while I’ve only seen an episode of TAS (Yesteryear) it was pretty good. Even if the animation wasn’t that great… Its under the Fan-Films section there.